Deaths in Pakistan hospital blast

At least eight people killed and 35 wounded in explosion in Quetta in Balochistan province.

16 Apr 2010 11:14 GMT

The bomber struck outside a hospital emergency wardin Quetta in the middle of a media briefing [AFP]

The emergency room was full of his friends and relatives when the bomber struck at the gate, Mohammad Sabir, a police official, said.

Zahir Shah Kazmi, a senior police officer who was briefing reporters at the hospital about the attack on the bank executive, was killed in the bombing.

The dead cameraman worked for Samaa TV, a Pakistani television station. Several journalists also present at the scene were wounded.

The bank manager came from a prominent Shia family. An armed man shot him as he stepped out of his car outside the bank on a major city road, officials said.

Sectarian violence

Pakistan, and Quetta in particular, has a history of sectarian violence between extremist groups from the minority Shia and majority Sunni Muslims.

Several of Pakistan's Sunni extremist groups also are allied with the Taliban and al-Qaeda, who view Shia Muslims as infidels.

In a separate incident on Friday, a suspected US missile attack killed four suspected fighters in Pakistan's northwestern tribal belt, officials said.

The alleged missile attack took place in the Torkhel area in North Waziristan, a tribal region filled with al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters focused on attacking US and Nato soldiers across the border in Afghanistan.

At least four suspected fighters were killed, Noor Ahmad, a Pakistan government official, said.

The exact identities of the dead were not immediately known.

The US has frequently targeted North Waziristan in its campaign to kill al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders using missiles.